Latin America Builds Momentum Against U.S.-Backed Drug War

One after another, Latin American leaders rose to the podium at the last UN General Assembly to take a stand against the United States’ signature security policy in the hemisphere — the war on drugs.

“Right here, in this same headquarters, 52 years ago, the convention that gave birth to the war on drugs was approved. Today, we must acknowledge, that war has not been won,” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said.

He noted that his country, which received more than $3.5 billion in counternarcotics aid between 2002 and 2011 and is frequently cited as a model by the Obama administration, “has suffered more deaths, more bloodshed and more sacrifices in this war” than almost any other.

Santos, as he has done before, called for changing course. He stated that he led the effort in the Organization of American States to study “different scenarios” (alternatives to the drug war) and commissioned studies that will be made available to the public and evaluated in a UN Special Session in 2016.

He concluded with a jab at the U.S.-led drug war. “If we act together with a comprehensive and modern vision — free of ideological and political biases — imagine how much harm and how much violence we could avoid.”